Monthly Archives: November 2011

This stretch of Norbeck Road had Zelkova serrata planted on both sides and down the median and it looks nice most of the year. Right now, though, it’s really at its best, particularly with late-day light setting the red leaves on fire.

It was a beautiful day today and I made time to go out in the woods next to my office. Early in the year I photographed dried leaves and seed pods. We’re coming full circle and the seed pods are out and starting to dry.

We had a three day weekend and had to decide between going to New York and going to Cincinnati. New York has Lady Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Broadway. Cincinnati has Bill and Kristine. Cincinnati won.

Look up the word exuberance in any dictionary worth its salt and you’ll see a picture of this boy. It isn’t completely clear in this picture that he’s not simply kneeling in front of this leaf pile. No one who knows Brandon, however, will have any doubt that he is airborne and traveling at great speed, heading for the middle of the pile.

They’re kind of expensive but they really are the best markers around. Dorothy had them out to work on a project for her history class this evening and I was wandering around the house looking for things to photograph. I got a picture or two of Dorothy but she didn’t like them, so you get the markers, instead.

Today’s photo of fall color is titled with a quote from that great philosopher Hobbes when he was walking in the woods on a fine, fall Sunday afternoon. He said that to him, “the trees are like nature’s own fireworks display!” No, not Hobbes as in “Thomas” but rather “Calvin and.”

This is the view out my window on rainy November 10. It is a willow oak (Quercus phellos) in the parking lot of my office building. It’s starting to look decidedly wintery. I love the stark lines, though, and there’s still a bit of color.

I know it’s been a while since I posted anything but I’ve been taking my pictures, as planned. I got a little behind and then when I was ready to work on them, my drive failed. I have backups (actually, that drive is my backup to the server) so nothing should be lost. I’m not completely back up to speed but managed to edit pictures from 11/10 through 11/13. More to come soon.

I sold cards and prints at the WCA Christmas Bazaar today. It was nice to be next to Jessica Buchtel’s table, although a LOT of people got to her table and didn’t feel they needed to go any further. :).

Four of Dorothy’s friends went off to college this fall. She’s seen three of them a few times since then but Hannah Marie Roop went too far to come home for a weekend. We’ll she’s here for Thanksgiving and her parents let here have some of her friends over to see her this evening. A couple had left by the time I took this and two more came after I did, but this is as complete a group picture as I got. There was considerable laughter and much joy.

This tree is a steel and concrete sculpture called Graft by Roxy Paine. It’s between the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art. We especially enjoyed the hawk that was perched in it. What would be really funny would be a woodpecker.

This is where old cameras go to die (or whatever). The Canon A-1 (top left) was the first camera I bought, back in 1979. That was followed a few years later by the F-1 (top right), which is a really nice piece of engineering. It will keep taking pictures without any battery, although of course there isn’t a light meter without power. That camera has been around the world.

When I married into a family of Nikon users, I bought the FM (bottom left) so I could share lenses. The F-301 (a.k.a. N2000, bottom right) was my father-in-law’s. Not shown is a Nikon FM-2. Also not shown is a Canon (film) Rebel, which was my first auto-focus camera.

These aren’t all out of commission for good, though. Our niece, Laura, has the FM-2 and some lenses in Peru and Dorothy wants me to buy some black and white film so she can play around with them.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Anyway, our friend Jonathan Hsu was dancing at the Montgomery College Dance Showcase this evening and I sneaked a few photos. Here he is as an entomologist, upside down with a butterfly net caught on his foot.